Devil Moon by David Thompson Read Free Book Online Page A

I hit it!” Elk Running exclaimed.
    Two Knives very much doubted it, but he kept his doubt to himself. “You did fine, son.” He let up on his own bow for a few moments to relieve his arm, then drew the arrow back again. Another long wait ensued. The hide stayed smooth. After a while Dove Sings came up and put a hand on his shoulder.
    “It has gone.”
    Two Knives doubted that, too. To find out, he lowered his bow and edged to the flap and undid the tie enough to peer out. The trampled area in front of the lodge was clear. The cat could be crouched on either side or in the high grass.
    “Do we go after it, Father?” Elk Running asked.
    “We do not.”
    “But it killed Fox Tail.”
    “One death is enough.” Two Knives secured thetie and went to the fire and sat facing the hide and put the bow at his side, the arrow still notched.
    Without being asked, Dove Sings brought the water skin over and offered it to him. “What is your plan?”
    “We will stay in all night. If it has not come back by morning, then maybe it is safe.”
    “And if it does?”
    “We will do what we can.”
    “You have the lance,” Dove Sings reminded him.
    Two Knives had forgotten about it. The summer previous they had gone over into the next valley after elk and come on an old camp made by a hunting party. He’d found a lance near the embers of a fire and by its marking recognized it as Shoshone. The tip and about half an arm’s length had broken off and whoever owned it had left it. He’d brought it back and sharpened the end. It wasn’t as long as before, but it was sturdy and thick and made for a good weapon in close quarters.
    Dove Sings brought it over and laid it on his other side.
    “Thank you.”
    Elk Running was pacing. “Maybe it will bleed to death,” he said.
    “You should sit and rest,” Two Knives advised. “It will be a long night.”
    “I am not tired.” Elk Running gestured angrily. “I wish Fox Tail were here. I will miss him.”
    Two Knives closed his eyes and bowed his head, remembering.
    Dove Sings touched his cheek. “How bad was it?”
    “Bad.”
    “Do you think he hurt the Devil Cat before it killed him?”
    Two Knives hadn’t considered that at all. “Possibly,” he said. There had been a lot of dried blood, which he had assumed was his son’s.
    “Would you like to eat?”
    Two Knives was famished, but the idea held no appeal. “Maybe later,” he answered.
    Bright Rainbow was sitting cross-legged with her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. Tears were trickling down her cheeks. She sniffled and said quietly, “Fox Tail was a good brother.”
    Two Knives nodded at her and at Dove Sings, and Dove Sings went to Bright Rainbow and draped an arm over the girl’s shoulders to comfort her.
    “Fox Tail was a good son, too.”
    Bright Rainbow looked up, her face gleaming wet. “Why did he have to die? It is not right.”
    “Death comes to all of us, little one,” Dove Sings said. “We never know the day or the manner.”
    “But why ?”
    “You might as well ask why does the sun shine during the day and the moon rise at night. Death just is.”
    “I do not understand why it has to be.”
    Two Knives said, “There are many things in life that we do not understand. If we dwell on them, we will be sad. The important thing is to live the best we can and be as happy as we can and let the rest take care of itself.”
    Elk Running stopped pacing. “Listen!”
    From the side of the lodge came a growl. The Devil Cat went on growling as it moved to the rear of the lodge and the growl faded.
    “It has gone into the forest,” Elk Running guessed. “We should go after it.”
    “You would not say that if you had seen it,” Two Knives told him. “It is not like a normal cat.”
    They had enough firewood to last all night. They slept lying close to the flames, Dove Sings in Two Knives’s arms, Bright Rainbow in hers. In the distance wolves wailed and coyotes crooned and once a brown bear